None of the supply chain issues have been a disaster yet but it seems like it's just time until it is. How long until the shortages hit meds or something similar hard. With the bias I have and not...
None of the supply chain issues have been a disaster yet but it seems like it's just time until it is. How long until the shortages hit meds or something similar hard.
With the bias I have and not enough knowledge it seems like if we paid truck drivers more then there would be less issues or is it Brexit issues as well. The article talks about pings from track and trace being a problem but the current system means you can continue everything you normally do with a lateral flow every day instead of isolating so seems like it shouldn't affect it anymore.
We pay drivers the same now as we did before brexit. I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid more but it's not that. It's also not covid, the rest of the EU is putting food on their shelves just...
We pay drivers the same now as we did before brexit. I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid more but it's not that. It's also not covid, the rest of the EU is putting food on their shelves just fine. The problem now is, almost entirely, brexit.
A friend of mine is a trucker. Got a good 15 years of driving under his belt. He had this to say on the topic (note that he wrote this while sitting in some port or other waiting for the tonnes of paperwork he needs to submit every time he enters the UK to clear, which can take hours, even days - previously he drove off the ferry and onto the motorway):
"There’s always been a 'shortage of drivers'.
Products and raw ingredients/parts/supplies are getting held up at ports.
Anything that relies on imports from the continent will be affected.
Many EU suppliers are just not bothering, especially the fresh produce ones, because the risk that their entire trailer load is delayed - and thus rejected by the major importers, mainly supermarkets with their economic power - is huge.
Imagine sending 25 tonnes of fresh chicken breast-meat in through Dover - with a contractual clause that says it must be at the receiver within 12 hours of slaughter (so that they still have time to process and (re)package it, get it to the DCs and on to the supermarket shelves while it’s still fresh) knowing there’s a significant risk of it being delayed, and therefore rejected and rendered useless.
That would only have to happen once for you to say - screw that, let’s concentrate on selling more to Italy & Bulgaria instead."
The thing that really fucks me off about this is that if it wasn't for covid the government would be getting it hard - and deservedly so - over empty shelves in supermarkets and milkshake shortages. But they've got, essentially, a free pass on the entire brexitshambles because of the virus. Anything that goes wrong they can just wave their hands and say "covid, sorry" and people are OK with that. The first time I saw empty shelves in the shop, during lockdown 1.0, was shocking. Genuinely shocking. I've never seen such a thing before. But now it just seems normal and it absolutely should not.
Thanks for sharing all of that. I wonder if thing do open up more then eventually the blame will shift. Once the ping stats go down and similar and then less to blame it on. I agree with you...
Thanks for sharing all of that. I wonder if thing do open up more then eventually the blame will shift. Once the ping stats go down and similar and then less to blame it on.
I agree with you completely about the shelves though. It's now an annoyance I just accept whenever I go in a supermarket instead of something out of the ordinary as it was at the start.
None of the supply chain issues have been a disaster yet but it seems like it's just time until it is. How long until the shortages hit meds or something similar hard.
With the bias I have and not enough knowledge it seems like if we paid truck drivers more then there would be less issues or is it Brexit issues as well. The article talks about pings from track and trace being a problem but the current system means you can continue everything you normally do with a lateral flow every day instead of isolating so seems like it shouldn't affect it anymore.
We pay drivers the same now as we did before brexit. I'm not saying they shouldn't be paid more but it's not that. It's also not covid, the rest of the EU is putting food on their shelves just fine. The problem now is, almost entirely, brexit.
A friend of mine is a trucker. Got a good 15 years of driving under his belt. He had this to say on the topic (note that he wrote this while sitting in some port or other waiting for the tonnes of paperwork he needs to submit every time he enters the UK to clear, which can take hours, even days - previously he drove off the ferry and onto the motorway):
"There’s always been a 'shortage of drivers'.
Products and raw ingredients/parts/supplies are getting held up at ports.
Anything that relies on imports from the continent will be affected.
Many EU suppliers are just not bothering, especially the fresh produce ones, because the risk that their entire trailer load is delayed - and thus rejected by the major importers, mainly supermarkets with their economic power - is huge.
Imagine sending 25 tonnes of fresh chicken breast-meat in through Dover - with a contractual clause that says it must be at the receiver within 12 hours of slaughter (so that they still have time to process and (re)package it, get it to the DCs and on to the supermarket shelves while it’s still fresh) knowing there’s a significant risk of it being delayed, and therefore rejected and rendered useless.
That would only have to happen once for you to say - screw that, let’s concentrate on selling more to Italy & Bulgaria instead."
The thing that really fucks me off about this is that if it wasn't for covid the government would be getting it hard - and deservedly so - over empty shelves in supermarkets and milkshake shortages. But they've got, essentially, a free pass on the entire brexitshambles because of the virus. Anything that goes wrong they can just wave their hands and say "covid, sorry" and people are OK with that. The first time I saw empty shelves in the shop, during lockdown 1.0, was shocking. Genuinely shocking. I've never seen such a thing before. But now it just seems normal and it absolutely should not.
Thanks for sharing all of that. I wonder if thing do open up more then eventually the blame will shift. Once the ping stats go down and similar and then less to blame it on.
I agree with you completely about the shelves though. It's now an annoyance I just accept whenever I go in a supermarket instead of something out of the ordinary as it was at the start.